Member Article

Ashford Orthodontics aims to create centre of excellence in Sunderland

An ambitious Sunderland business supplying specialised dental technology products is aiming to help turn the city into a major training and employment hub for the industry.

Ashford Orthodontics runs an orthodontic laboratory creating and supplying teeth straightening appliances to over 400 NHS and private practices across the UK, with clients in Australia and Europe.

As well as servicing the needs of specialist orthodontic practices nationally, Ashford also provides the technical knowledge behind two other dental brands – Quick Straight Teeth, which provides general dental practitioners with a one-stop solution for the needs of adult teeth straightening, and Retainerworld, which provides the appliances to keep the teeth straight once treatment has finished.

Ashford has created a state of the art lab in the city centre, equipped with the latest 3D scanners and printers, where it currently employs 18 people.

The business is focused on staff training and development and it is currently working with Sunderland College to establish an accredited training programme with the ultimate aim of creating a centre of excellence in Sunderland for everything relating to Dental training.

Sean Thompson set up the business 15 years ago, along with Craig Stevens and Graeme Winyard, and a third of Ashford’s current employees are drawn from the long-term unemployed, and trained internally.

Mr Thompson said: “One of my biggest passions is provide employability for the ‘forgotten’ people who haven’t managed to achieve the five GCSEs necessary to get an apprenticeship. There are a lot of very employable people around who are now maybe 19, 20, 21 years old and now perhaps wish they had stuck in a little more at school.

“I want to introduce a new level in learning to help with this and we are working with the college to develop this, whilst also introducing workplace learning in maths and English.

“We currently can’t accredit the training we provide so we are looking at forms of external accreditation, allowing suitable candidates to start from a low base and have the opportunity to work their way up to the equivalent of an apprenticeship or higher, perhaps even a degree.

“We are always interested in hard working people who are skilled with their hands and can make things well. It’s like the days of Sunderland’s shipyard industry – not everyone was a draughtsman but without the blend of skilled workers to build things, the ships would not have floated.”

Mr Thompson believes this approach to training people and equipping them with the skills necessary to supply the dental profession can help create a thriving industry in Sunderland. The nearest major dental and orthodontic training hubs are in Edinburgh and Sheffield, and there is a geographical gap in the market that Sunderland is well-placed to fill.

Ashford chose a four-storey city centre building in the Sunniside conservation area for its base, and the laboratory is rapidly outgrowing it, already having expanded to create new departments for administration, 3D scanning and printing, production and dispatch.

Sunderland City Council has worked with the business to support its growth.

Mr Thompson said: “We restored an almost derelict building, invested in equipment and created jobs in the process.

“We chose to be in the heart of Sunderland city centre, rather than an industrial unit outside of the city. I am passionate about helping to develop Sunderland as a city, and I’m proud to be part of the fantastic work Sunderland Business Group and the City Council are doing to re-grow the city centre.

“We have had great support from the council to grow the business and have received help with investment for job creation and marketing.”

Sunderland City Council Leader, Councillor Paul Watson, said: “Ashford Orthodontics is an ambitious, growing business – just the kind of enterprise that we are keen to support and encourage in the city.

“Sean has taken a long-term view on the development of the business and has a fantastic vision of how the growth of his company can also grow the city and regional economy. He is to be congratulated and we will endeavour to support Ashford Orthodontics to help it achieve both its own and its wider ambitions to create a centre of excellence in Sunderland.”

Looking to promote your product/service to SME businesses in your region? Find out how Bdaily can help →